Monday, November 2, 2009

Michael Jackson film shows a glimpse of the man in the mirror

He knew how things were supposed to sound. He had a vision for his performances. His dance moves were precise and crisp, even at age 50.

In "This Is It," you saw a glimpse of the man in the mirror who made all of the right decisions. My favorite was Jackson telling a keyboardist to "let it simmer."

Jackson was often torn to shreds in the media for making the wrong decisions -- letting little boys sleep in his bed -- but not the case here.

The film, which was shot as Jackson prepared for his final concert run, had all the components of a great scripted movie. It was funny, entertaining and sad.

Despite a long absence from the stage, Jackson looked as if he'd never left. More importantly, he looked alive -- aside from his bone-skinny frame. Hard to believe he died shortly after these rehearsals.

You couldn't help but sing along as he performed the classics, including popular tracks from the Thriller and Bad albums. Among my favorite performance was "Smooth Criminal."

The film also provided fans with an opportunity to see the video packages that were put together to accompany many of performances. "Thriller" was one of the more elaborate productions because of the detailed costumes used.

The only thing the movie lacked was some type of narration. I thought maybe Jackson would be walking us through how the concert was being put together. I remember watching my VHS tape of the Making of Thriller and I thought we'd get something similar to that. I was hoping Jackson would sit down in a director's chair, look into the camera and just talk. Unfortunately, that was missing.